Economy, Planning and Development Minister Pavel Isa Contreras forecasts growth (GDP) will be up 4.5% in 2023, below the historical level for the Dominican economy.
“I believe that 2023 is going to be a year where the level of economic activity is going to be good, boosting business opportunities for people and for employment. It will also be a year of lower inflation, which is a relief compared to 2022,” Isa Contreras told Edith Febles when interviewed for El Día TV on Channel 11.
He said 2022 should close with GDP growth of around 5%, “a very robust growth in the regional and global context.” Inflation in 2022 was above 7%.
He explained that growth in 2023 will be lower than last year primarily because of government monetary restrictions in place to mitigate the external factors. Isa Contreras recalled that the Dominican Republic is a small yet open economy, which sells abroad a large part of what it produces and buys abroad a large part of what it consumes, as does any other small economy, whether poor or rich.
He said that to sustain economic growth, the government has in place a vigorous public investment program with a focus on the construction sector during the first semester of the year.
He also highlighted the role played by public services in the quality of life of the people. He said the Ministry of Economy seeks to create synergies between government institutions to improve the coverage and quality of public services.
The minister affirmed that the Dominican Republic’s foreign debt has been manageable for years, but still represents a problem for the country’s finances. “We need the weight of the debt to be less and for that we need more resources and to collect more because what we collect is very low,” he said.
Nevertheless, Isa Contreras said that the government has no plans to propose reforms to the tax system. Instead, the focus is on improving the quality of public spending to reduce wasteful spending.
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Ministry of Economy
4 January 2023